Air conditioning for moving vehicles



` Dec. 10, 1935. R. c. ROE

AIR CONDITIONING FOR MOVING VEHICLES Filed Feb. 13, 1953 figure '/4L V5 6PM e M INVENTOR Patented Dec. l0, 1935 PATENT OFFICE 2,023,444 Ant CONDITIONING Fon Movnvc.

VEHICLES Ralph C. Roe, Englewood, N. J.

Application February 13, 1933, Serial No. 656,472

6Claims.

My invention relates to improvements in 'air conditioning and more particularly to air conditioning using water refrigeratiomand still more particularly to air conditioning using water refrigeration on movable vehicles.- A further object of my invention is to provide air conditioning apparatus for moving vehicles. particularly railway cars, which will be less cumbersome and will require less power to be supplied by the propulsion devices of said vehicles than has heretofore been the case. Other objects of my invention become apparent as the speciications appear and proceed.

At present in the air conditioning of. railway cars or similar movingvehicles, three methods are used, principally- (1) The compression refrigeration system, as ammonia, sulphur dioxide,

' or menthol chloride compression systems which take power which, in the case of steam propelled cars, comes from the axle of the car and requires this power to be supplied by the locomotive (2) the use of water refrigeration taking a portion of the power from the' axle oi' the train and the balance of the power in the form of steam jet evacuation from the steam supply of the locomotive by means of the train line (3) by means of melting ice made from water and the circulation of air in the car over this by means oi fans, the fans taking the power either directly or indirectly from the car axle, usually through axle type generators and storage batteries.

In my system, I propose to use a diierent method of utilizing water refrigeration which is believed to be new and novel and to constitute an improvement in the art of air conditioning moving vehicles, particularly railway cars as will hereinafter be pointed out.

In the drawing, Figure 1 is a purely diagrammatic representation of my system for cooling cars and moving vehicles, Figure 2 is a portion of a railway car illustrativeI of the application of this system.

In VFigure 1, I are fans driven by any suitable means, 2 is a fan enclosure, 3 is a heat exchanger, 4, 5, 6, 'I, 8 and 9 are pipes or ducts, I0 is an evaporator, II is a pump,l I2 is a motor driving pump II, I3 is a vent, I4 is a liquid supply tank, I5 isa pump, I6 is a' jet pump, Il is an absorber, I8 is an absorbent filling in absorber II, I9. is a cooling surface on absorber I1, 20 is a connection between absorber I1 and jet pump I6, 2I is a louver opening in enclosure 2, 22 are spray nozzles in evaporator III. In Figure 2, similar numbers correspond to similar parts, the parts having been rearranged approximately as they would be in an actual installation.

In operation, the air from the car passes through louvers 2|, is cooled by heat exchangers 3, through fans I, all enclosed in case 2. Water 5 is circulated by pump I I by pipes 5 and 6 through heat exchanger 3 and out through pipe 4, and sprayed through nozzles 22. Being sprayed at this point at high vacuum, the water gives `up a portion of its heat in the form of vapor, cooling 10 the balance of the water. A vacuum of high order is produced by jet pump I6, operated as a liquid jet in the case illustrated, the liquid being supplied by pump I5 from supply tankJ I4 and passing through pipe 8 to jet pump I6, and thence 15 through pipe 9 back to the supply tank, any gases going with it exhausting through vent I3.

As an impelling fluid for this liquid jet, I prefer to use Aroclor as outlined in my co-pending application No. 639,673. Steam from the train line 20 where available could be used as an impelling uid also, in which case parts I3, I4 and I5. would not be used.

The vacuum passes through absorber I'I at pipe 'I to evaporator III. The power required for 25 water evacuation, whether in the form of steam or otherwise, is usually considerable because of the large volumes of water vapor at the extremely low pressures which must be compressed or condensed to, or near, atmospheric conditions. In a jet pump, particularly a liquid impelled jet pump, of the continuous iiow type, when supplied with a high boiling point liquid, it is possible to produce a vacuum with a small expenditure of energy provided the pump does not have to do a large amount of work in the removal of vapors. When abundant supplies of water are available',^ its duty can be decreased by condensing the condensable portions'of the vapor, but in moving vehicles this is impractical because of the absence 40 of large supplies of water. I therefore propose to use, in absorber I1 a chemical absorbent to absorb the water vapors.

I prefer to use as an absorbent barium monoxide (BaO) although there are other absorbents which could be used. Barium monoxide, in its natural state, is a porous crystalline solid which can be broken into lumps of convenient sizes and will actively combine with water vapor forming (Buona-enzo). It is readily seen that in thisA 5 change the barium monoxide will rst change to hydroxide (Ba(OH) 2) and then will continue to absorb Water until the formula above presented has been accomplished. The molecular weight of barium monoxide is 153.37. The first step would be the addition of one part oi' water (H2O) changing from (BaO) to Ba(OH)z), this adding 18.02 to the weight,making theweight 171.39. The next step would be to add (13H02), adding 144.16 to the weight, making a total weight of 315.55.

Comparing this with the initial Weight of barium is a c ertain amount of heat liberated which must y be dissipated to the air or otherwise taken care of. This heat may be dissipated in any way desired, but I have illustrated it in the form of radiating ns on absorber Il, the ilns radiating the heat to the atmospheric air.

The use of Water as a refrigerant is very desirable in moving vehicles on account of the high latent heat of evaporation, well over 1,000 B. t. u. per pound at high vacuums, and therefore the comparatively small number of pounds required. The absorption of the water vapor by absorbing mediums, as barium monoxide, relieves the duty on the pumps producing the vacuum by limiting their work to the handling of non-condensable gases only, although even some portion of these are quite likely to be absorbed by the absorbent. The result is that very small pumping equipment, and a small evacuating jet, can be used, or very small steam use would be required if a steamvjet were adopted, resulting in very light load on the locomotive moving the train.

As previously mentioned, I prefer to use Aroclor (chlorinated diphenyl, a high boiling point uid) as an impelling fluid for liquid jet I 6 because with this iiuid the admixture of any minor portion of water vapor which might be carried through absorbent I8 in absorber I1 would not readily mix with the Aroclor because of the high specific gravity of Aroclor, approximately 1.4, and any heat carried with this minor portion .of vapor would not ailect the operation of the Aroclor as an impelling iluid in an Aroclor impelled vacuum producing liquid jet up to the boiling point of the water and therefore the water would be removed through liquid supply tank I4, regardless of Whether it was in vapor form or liquid form, through vent I3.

In Figure 2 the absorbing element has been shown diagrammatically broken into three units, the scale being too small to show the radiating surface, and is located on the outside of the car, exposed to atmospheric air where the dissipation of heat'does not affect the interior car temperature. Absorbing units I1 in commercial practice will be constructed in the form of renewable cylinders which will be replaced from I time to time as they have absorbed their quota of Water vapor. The water supply itself can be readily replenished wherever the car may be. Therefore, the ingredients necessary for this refrigeration system can be made available for convenient replenishing to a moving vehicle.

The load on the locomotive or other devices moving the train will be very much less with this system than with mechanical systems now in se because of the factthat there is no power used for the compression of the refrigerant, as such, either in the form of evacuation or actual com'- pression, and the total power used is a great deal less than in any of the other mechanical systems 5 now commercially used. On account of the high absorptive capacity of the absorbent and the high latent heat of the water, the total weight per car is very much reduced and the entire system assembly is very much simplified. Ihese 10 characteristics make this system commercially desirable.

The cylinders containing the absorbent will be arranged so that the absorbent can have its moisture removed by roasting or chemically and be 15 restored to its original condition and thereby the chemicals will be re-used repeatedly. This will in general be done at a central point so that new cylinders of chemicals can be readily and easily installed on the movable vehicle without delay or 20 trouble.

While I have shown and described one embodiment of my invention in accordance with patent statutes, it is understood that my invention is capable of embodiment in a variety of forms of 25 apparatus and I am not limited to the specific form of arrangement or structural parts shown and described but that the scope of my invention is to be gauged by the accompanying claims taken in connection with prior art. 30

I claim:

1. In a system for cooling water by evaporation by vacuum, the method of maintaining low pressure which comprises the steps of continuously reducing the vapor pressure of water to vaporize 35 the same and absorbing the vapor in solid barium monoxide.

2. In a. system for cooling water by evaporation by vacuum, the method of maintaining low pressure which comprises the steps of continuously 40 reducing the vapor pressure of water to vaporize the same by the absorptive capacity of solid barium monoxide and absorbing said vapor in solid barium monoxide.

3. In a water vapor refrigeration system, 45 means for cooling water by vaporizing the same consisting cfaash chamber, a jet pump in vacuumizing relation with said ash chamber and solid barium monoxide in absorptive relation with said water vapor. 50

4. In a water vapor refrigeration system, means for cooling water by vaporizing the same consisting of a ash'chamber and solid barium monoxide in vapor pressure reducing relation with said ash chamber and in absorptive rela- 55 tion with said water Vapor.

5. In a vacuum system for cooling water comprising a flash chamber, means for vaporizing water and maintaining vacuum in said chamber comprising barium monoxide placed in absorp- 60 tive relation with said Water vapor.

6. In a vacuum system for cooling water comprising a flash chamber, means for vaporizing water and maintaining vacuum in said chamber comprising jet pumping means in vacuumizing 65 relation with said chamber and barium monoxide in absorptive relation with said water vapor.

RALPH C. ROE. 

